You Have Sinned

Australian Archbishop Found Guilty of Concealing Child Sex Abuses

Becomes most senior Catholic to be convicted of the offense.

An Australian archbishop has been found guilty of concealing child sexual abuse in the 1970s, becoming the most senior Catholic in the world to be charged and convicted of the offense. Philip Wilson, the archbishop of Adelaide, was found to have covered up the abuse of altar boys by a convicted pedophile priest colleague in New South Wales. Wilson insisted he had no knowledge of Rev. James Fletcher’s actions—he was convicted of nine child sexual abuse charges in 2004—but one of his victims told the court he had described the abuse to Wilson in detail in 1976. Wilson knew “that he was hearing was a credible allegation and the accused wanted to protect the church and its reputation,” a court magistrate said. A survivor of the abuse, Peter Creigh, said: “The decision will hopefully unravel the hypocrisy, the deceit, and the abuse of power and trust that the church has displayed.”